After 30 Years I Finally Learned The Best Way To Remove Baseboards! 

great tip if demoing a newish build. my homes boards were glued and nailed and screwed and painted over 10+ times

You've just helped me immensely with baseboards I need to remove (and keep) in my 100 year old house. Thank you!

Hey, loving the channel. Doing trim along my foyer because…wife. Had a bunch of miter cuts on the trim not line up because my walls are wonky in the corners. I’ll be putting what I learned from your videos to work when I actually get time again!

... Some good tips here, Thanks - When you cut straight into the sheet-rock (along the top of baseboard) use a light touch; going too deep on that cut is never good. I'd recommend going once across lightly (straight-in), then a second time with the knife pointed towards the floor. Always good to make sure you get fully through the caulk bead (as illustrated) - Always ends up a little harder than it looks !! Thanks Again and Good Luck

Excellent video and tips! I wish I saw this last year when pulling off all the baseboards to put new flooring in. Luckily I’ll be able to use your tips in the near future. Thanks!!

Talk about excellent timing! Planting this "excercise" this weekend 🙂

Tips like these are normally learned at the cost of years of experience or if you are lucky, from a good mentor. Thanks for being a good mentor!

Very helpful video with clear and concise direction and tool recommendations. Thanks!

Great tips. An addition to the Richard red bar is the Richard wall scraper multi tool, sharpen the bevel and using the two of them together, base mouldings and caulking lines don’t stand a chance.

Great tips...many thanks! The horizontal cut tip is brilliant. Love the door stopper too. Your channel has saved me countless headaches. Much appreciated!

Great tip, thanks again. By the way, I followed your guide for perfect caulking.....awesome result. Cheers from Ottawa area.

Great technique, thanks for sharing! As a last resort if you have nails sticking out of the wall from the old moulding, you can also hammer them into the drywall.The odds are almost nil that you'll hit the spot that the old nails are at when you add new moulding or re-attach the old moulding

Good stuff. I use a broad spackling trowel with front edge sharpened to cut the caulk and the pry it out, but the use of the knife to cut the paper and caulking...that will come in handy.

Absolutely loved this video!!!! Gotta love a body, that knows what tool is needed, and how to use them!!! You earned an instant follow for this video alone!!!! ❤

Super good tips here... love that you get to the point without 20 minutes of fluff. I use the small pry bar and a Goldblatt trim puller (G02807 I think)... its like the Zenneth, but has a hinge in place of the "bump out" on the blade. IMHO, it seats better and more fully behind the trim, reducing the chance for it breaking.

Excellent video thank you! So many helpful nuggets 😊

I came to this video with the attitude that I wasn't going to learn anything new, but you made me eat my thoughts. Thank you.

Subscribed ! This guy is awesome and funny .

I use end cut nippers to pull nails. Rounded on both sides. I have a tool called the Hooker. Found it at a garage sale. Split fork prybar with a teardrop shaped nail puller and a small square double hammer head that I use for baseboard removal.

Flawless technique!!

Great video - thanks so much for sharing! One of my favorite channels! 😃

Very informative Video. Thank you.

I've found that a slightly sharpened cement trowel can be very useful to remove baseboard and door casing. It is also great to back up a pry bar so as not to damage drywall.

Excellent tutorial! Thank you!👍

Great advice!

Really good for when you want to move or add outlets

Great info. Thank you for sharing.

That horizontal cut tip is a game changer!

I used to do this quite often and the technique I developed was to use several nylon/plastic automotive trim tools; and some of the slender, black, bulk pack shims from the orange store. After releasing the caulk if it has any, I use a putty knife to create an opening for the auto trim tool that looks like a shim, but is very slender and smooth. I insert the trim tool just enough for the pressure of the molding to hold it in place; then repeat a few inches away and so on and so forth. Once I get about two feet down the wall, I give the first one or two auto tools a very light tap. If that opens the gap enough for the black shim, I replace the tool with the shim. If not, I continue down the wall. Eventually I end up with multiple black shims holding steady pressure against the nails. Some light taps make space for a finger and I can feel what is good or bad for pressure. This is smooth as smooth can be and I never lost a piece of molding after I mastered this technique.

I thought I would see a stiff taping or putty knife slid in behind the base first so you can pry against it instead of drywall. You might need to do that with the big ol' nails used in the old days when they hand nailed up trim.

What a great video.

Thank you, excellent video/advice!!!

thanks, dude. this is great.

Nice. thank you

Good tips yes. Been doing that for many years and im 40. My dad taught me. And taught other guys when i was cabinet makers. Even taught the boss who owns the business for 40 plus years.

Thanks!

Wow you guys really like your caulk

As a painter I appreciate this video.

What a great tip! Incredible how you were able to use your mind powers to make the crowbar disappear 😂

This "Richard Red Bar" that you speak of, has been around since 1851. It was invented by Langstroth for beekeeping, and is called a hive tool. Over the years, many tradesmen have used the hive tool because of it's incredible properties. In time, it finally became so used by many people outside of the beekeeping industry, that it, like other tools, has become a common tool. "Hive tool" doesn't necessarily grab a a person's attention for anything other than beekeeping, so a name change is applicable (insert Richard Red Bar, lol). There were two grades to the hive tool after half a century (early 1900s): the basic that wasn't painted or shiny. But the hive tool rusted over time if forgotten outside or in your garage in a damp climate, so an upgrade was made that wouldn't rust. In the 1990s is when the tool predominantly was bought as the red and silver version. And now you have the rest of the story, and not from Paul Harvey. I'm a retired tradesman who started as a commercial beekeeper. Have built sports star mansions, apartments, track-homes, commercial buildings, and built stuff for Google in western US. I've travelled and lectured on bees, having been heavily involved in raising a new breed of honey bee in the 1980s. So, been there, done that, as a top flight professional in both vocations...and laughed at "Richard Red Bar." Makes sense, though, and makes no difference to the masses what it really started out as 170 years ago.

Hey carpenter fella. Ive been at this for 45 years in hundreds of years old homes. I often use a razor knife to start scoring the paint caulk line around the room. Then I prefer to start loosening the base with a heavy 6" mud knife prying out. After and or during that depending on how secure it is I add a flatbar and use together until no mudknife needed. Then two flat bars or a hammer flatbar. Using the flatbar against the mudknife avoids crushing soft spots in drywall with no wood backing and creating extra mud repairs.

I've carried a red bar like that in my tool belt for over 30 years. The one I have today is blue (lost the damn red one last year). The only thing I would add is that that same red bar (blue in my case) is excellent at removing the caulk from the wall and the baseboard. Been using it that way all along. Cheers.

Gold. Thanks!

The hook of that pry bar works well for scraping of the caulk line

That's a great tip, its going to save me heart ache at least once a week:)

I use two joint compound spreaders. A twelve inch and a six inch. Either one will cut the caulking. After slicing the caulking being careful to keep it next to the wall push it in and slide the second one behind it and pry the baseboard away from the wall.

I love you (in a non-creepy way) lol, I have learned so much from your videos.

Thank you thank you!

Nice tips, can you do a video on cameras that we can use to look what is behind the walls? Say one that you hook up to your apple phone? I found termites outside the home and wonder if they got inside behind the walls. Tks

As an industrial tradesman this came naturally to me, but kudos to you to educate those with little experience working in an unrelated profession. 👌

Use trim screws to install will make removal super easy.

Haha, that thumbnail remind me of an old house i had in Kingston, On. The walls sheeted with the small old style sheet rock, plastered over with about 1/2 inch of cement mortar, followed by a 1/4 inch of plaster. And probably 30 coats of paint. I pulled a baseboard off, thought i had cut thru the paint. Well, I didn’t. The paint stayed attached to the baseboard, and peeled off in a huge sheet. It stayed together, and i used spray adhesive to glue the paint back on to the plaster before removing the baseboard properly. The plaster was sanded smooth as glass, i`m surprised the paint stayed on to begin with.

It's handy to have one wide, thin putty knife to slip between the wall and the pry bar. It's also a good excuse to buy an oscillating cutting tool for the weirds spots that are hard to pry apart without damage. Oh, and comfy kneepads are danged good to have.

Awesome I’m always looking for used baseboard 😂😂😂

use the multitool to cut off screws remaining on the trim. then you don't have to deal with holes on the other side. wear eye protection. after you get pulled out a bit a large prybar works if you put something between it and the drywall like a 12" square of 1/4" plywood.

For the nails left in the baseboard I've taken to just cutting them off flush with the backside using an angle grinder, leaving the stubs in the trim piece. I've found it to be easier and quicker than pulling and it doesn't do any further damage to the trim.

cool... I'm going to need this here in not to long I'm going to upgrade my front bathroom soon.. get rid of a pedestal sink with a floating vanity, hang a small cabinet new mirror and light plus new tile floor..

Thanks Funny Man. Do you remember those of us who were early to your “party”? With 377k…. You can quit your day job! LOL

Damn, this is therapy...

So I'm trying to removed the baseboard trim in my house to lay new flooring, but the previous owners decided to not only nail into the wall, but also nail from the moulding into the subfloor at some points, any tips on how to remove the trim and moulding safely for reuse?

Any tips for removing baseboard with coped inside corners and not destroying the ends? I find that they end up destroyed, especially when nailed into the corner through the narrower portion on colonial base.

I'm glad I knew this at the age of 14. Thanks dad!

I'm going to do this in like 20 years. thought i'd watch how to do it properly now.

Love my red bar, but I'll add one more tool...a putty knife for the red bar to put pressure on.... Commented before you pulled the putty knife out haha 🍻🇨🇦

Another way to pull the trim is to pry off of the floor and lift the base upwards after cutting the caulking. This will pull the base up and away from the wall and not tear the paper loose; then you can just pull it off the wall. I can pull all of the base in a house in about ten minutes this way.

if i have to pry very hard to remove the base boards a wide putty knife under the pry bar spreads the psi to a larger area , reducing chance of damaging the drywall.

Outdamnstanding video...Thanks for sharing.

30 years?! I learned that after ONE baseboard. Imma need to see your credentials.

I use the big bar that you advise against...but get some old smooth timber cladding 2ft long and use it behind the bar to ensure the load is transferred along the wall and not a point load behind the bar that messes up the drywall. I've done away with all that faff of nails, glues(horrendous- think about the next time the skirtings need to come off and destroys the drywall!), filler, sanding etc... I just use 40mm x 3.5mm pozi screws and sink them in flush then a dab of paint over the top.... Our 15 year old laminate will soon need replaced and the skirting boards will be a doddle now...lets face it, most skirting is hidden by clutter, plant pots, tv /media stuff and furniture.... Last skirting boards I did I took the gloss off back to the wood with a heat gun, even Nitromors is garbage these days and the heat is way cleaner/safer...repainted with self priming sartinwood...

Thanks for the great tips. You show the Richard Red Bar, but link to a bar by Titan Tools. Any reason for that?

It may have been your channel that I remember that the multitool is good for removing caulk. I can't remember the exact application, but couldva multitool have been used here some way?

👍👍👍.Thanks

This is why we apprentice. I learned that the first day on the job. Pencil, hammer, cat's paw, tape, Olfa, paint bar. Your six best friends.

Ever covered fixing a 'bouncy floor' ? I have one room that has the exact same flooring as my entire upstairs (appears to be a ~1" thick hard wood, tongue and groove perhaps?) BUT for some reason this room has an excessive bounce that makes the whole room kinda shake just when someone walks in. You can tell from looking at the floor against the trim (where the ~2"wide planks are perpendicular) on one side of the room that there's clearly a wave; high > low > high > low > high... you can tell with a ball on the floor or even sitting in a computer chair because you roll away. Problem is, i cant tell if this is the floor, subfloor, or a problem underneath without what looks like TEARING UP THE WHOLE FLOOR? yikes, it might not even be reusable even if its "only" nailed/stapled down. My guess is this was either just installed before allowing it to acclimate and therefor the flooring itelf is just squishing; but if they nailed or stapled every piece down then it still shouldnt have bowed this much? or perhaps its only secured on the parallel (plank long-ways) sides of the room and thats why the swelling is bowing... IF its as simply as getting one side up and just letting it self 'level' and then maybe trim the one edge side down and stuffing it back in under the trim /securing again so it doesnt get tons of gaps that'd be great. Problem is I have no idea how to get this flooring up to just check if this is an easy fix, hard fix, expensive fix or if/how to keep the flooring reusable if for some reason i had to take the whole thing up (worried about floor/color matching).. I pulled off trim on one side and found some nails but not a clue how to get these out with such little clearance against the wall and nothing to take nails out or pound them through easily to pull up one edge. TIPS? TRICKS? IDEAS? Appreciate any insight people here might have.

Even my girlfriend stayed to watch this video! (note to self: Don't shave for a bit) Haha, I wanted to see if they sold, but I guess that is going to be a wait, since it was 12 minutes ago the video came online. We bought a house from 1923, and boy.. crooked doors, mice, roof leaks, the works, but I have all of these videos to learn from!

Cut the caulk, find the first stud, pry against it and then pull the board off with your hands. This will ensure you dont screw up the drywall.

So you have my red bar!! Yea it does have my name on it! 😂

I wish it was this easy, lol. My baseboards are driven in with something like 3 inch hand hammered nails, 2 per stud, top and bottom.

It took me a minute to discover this wasn’t the caulk shaving video I was looking for.

The Richard’s red bar comes in 7 1/2 or 10 inch. Which one do you recommend?

Selling used baseboard online is pretty wild.

Forget all of that. Put a scraper blade on your oscillating multi-tool and run it down behind the top of the baseboard. Fast, Efficient. cuts through the caulk without cutting the paper on the drywall. Gently pry the baseboard away from the wall while you do it. Done. Easy as pie.

Have you ever used wooden wedges instead of a doorstop or pry bar - for real wood mouldings (baseboard, door trim, etc) wooden wedges are slick (5 inches long, 1 1/2 wide and 3/4 thick) - they are also slick for separating a lot of other things too where you don't want to damage parts - I keep a bucket full of various sizes in hard wood and soft wood - they have been traveling with me for 30 years - They get constant use!

Hey, how about an update on your tractor. You like it? Using it?

I'm not even in the business, my dad showed me how to do this. When pushing against Drywall with a tool, put a board between the drywall and the tool. The force from the tool will be dispersed on the larger surface and will not damage the drywall. Same principle as walking on ice... disperse the weight so it doesn't crack... Physics.

I did flooring for a time. All we did was take a utility knife along the edge of the base board.

didnt the cut proff gloves get a cut? ^^ can be seen at 2:59

Great technique. Any tips for removing baseboards that have been glued to the wall?

0:00 Wild guess.. A knoife? 0:05 Guessed right, it’s a knife

Putting a wallboard knife or putty knife behind the pry bar when prying can prevent the pry bar from damaging or denting the wallboard when prying off the baseboard.

nice....removing old big quad in a corner?...quad used instead of trim on door jamb to tiny walk in bathroom (between two wardrobes)

where is the link to the other pryer

Oh damn I used to cut just like that. Not anymore, thanks

I do like you cutting with knife horizontally . I'm surprised that in this video board where fixed with thin pins. I my self use screws. So after repeated kicking over the years they still will not gona come off.

I solved that caulking problem, never used any - DOH!

Know tells you to sharpen your puddykife with a file. just to replace a dull edge not sharp.

Definitely need to get that little red bar. Will eventually be replacing ALL the baseboards in the house. Bring it more up to date.

Interestingly, I have discovered that cut-proof gloves are cut-resistant gloves.

2:06 beehive tool

That tool looks like a hive tool for moving frames in a beehive.